There are different pre amps and each has their own affect on sounds.

The difference a pre amp makes on the sound of drums depends on the pre amp, the mic, the drum, the room, etc. Yes using a pre amp will most likely change your drum sound. How, no one can really say without knowing more.

Your roomy sound may be more because of the room or the drums rather than because of the lack of a mic pre.

I would recommend trying less expensive things first. Try changing the characteristics of the room. Deaden it up a bit.

Another very important thing to do is make sure the drums are properly tuned and adjusted.

Do the drums sound roomy in a mix with other instruments and singers? Sometimes that's just what you need to fill it out.

Try putting the overhead directly above and slightly behind the drummer instead of out front.

Or just track your close mics and overhead on separate takes to prevent bleeding and then add in just enough overhead to get the amount of room you want.

Mic placement is everything.

Keep moving around that condenser until you find a spot that isn't picking up so much room. Hell, even try just outside the cracked open door to the room. Put a sock over it. Try anything. You never know when you'll find a sweet spot. Write it down when you do.

thats interesting. I think I'll definately try to modify the room. I actually have a dedicated room for studio stuff, so i can make some more than temporary arrangements. I was thinking I could thicken the padding under the carpet, I've heard that hanging a canvas from the ceiling helps also. I also read that you can sort of create a "drum booth" by bolting curtain tracks to the ceiling in a sort of box shape against a corner and hanging sound deadening material. What about studio foam on the walls? do you have to completely cover the walls or would a tile of studio foam here and there make a significant difference? Lots of questions...I know, Im new :)

Don't suck all the life out of the room. Drums tracked in a dead room sound.......dead. Try building some partitions (gobos in old world lingo) to go around the kit, or buy some cubicle partitions from a salvage store. Throw a blanket over the kick, etc...... there are lots of things you can do to tune the area around the kit without killing all the ambience in the room, which helps with other things like strings, horns, group vocals, etc....

how big is the room? if its smaller then 15x15 then just try to kill the standing waves, you can add reverb latter, small rooms are verry dificult to get to sound good/live its mutch easyer to make them sound good/dead.

yea, its 11.5 x 13. Im working on getting the material. Probably get it from foam by mail. thanks for all your suggestions!